Geography

Finland is three times the size of Ohio. It is
heavily forested and contains thousands of lakes, numerous rivers, and
extensive areas of marshland. Except for a small highland region in the
extreme northwest, the country is a lowland less than 600 ft (180 m) above
sea level. Off the southwest coast are the Swedish-populated Åland
Islands (581 sq mi; 1,505 sq km), which have had an autonomous status
since 1921.

Government

Republic.

History

The first inhabitants of Finland were the Sami
(Lapp) people. When Finnish speakers migrated to Finland in the first
millennium
B.C.
, the Sami were forced to move
northward to the arctic regions, with which they are traditionally
associated. The Finns' repeated raids on the Scandinavian coast impelled
Eric IX, the Swedish king, to conquer the country in 1157. It was made a
part of the Swedish kingdom and converted to Christianity.

By 1809 the whole of Finland was conquered by
Alexander I of Russia, who set up Finland as a grand duchy. The period of
Russification (1809–1914) sapped Finnish political power and made
Russian the country's official language. When Russia became engulfed by
the March Revolution of 1917, Finland seized the opportunity to declare
independence on Dec. 6, 1917.

The USSR attacked Finland on Nov. 30, 1939,
after Finland refused to give in to Soviet territorial demands. The Finns
staged a strong defense for three months before being forced to cede to the
Soviets 16,000 sq mi (41,440 sq km). Under German pressure, the Finns
joined the Nazis against Russia in 1941, but they were defeated again and
forced to cede the Petsamo area to the USSR. In 1948, a treaty of
friendship and mutual assistance was signed by the two nations. Finland
continued to pursue a foreign policy of nonalignment throughout the
cold-war era.

Running on a platform to revitalize the economy,
Martti Ahtisaari, a Social Democrat, won the country's first direct presidential
election in a runoff in Feb. 1994. Previously, presidents had been chosen
by electors. Finland became a member of the European Union in Jan. 1995.
On Jan. 1, 1999, Finland, along with ten other European countries, adopted
the euro as its currency. In 2000, Tarja Halonen, who had been Finland's
foreign minister, became its first woman president.